


Please leave me something to breathe

by Lunarium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Planet, M/M, Mpreg, Near Death, No Harm to Baby, Poisoning, Rescue, Sharing a Bed, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:22:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21582970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: A mission goes south for Keith, and in particular, he did not expect having to protect another.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 106
Collections: Hurt Comfort Flash Exchange





	Please leave me something to breathe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Soulstoned](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soulstoned/gifts).



> Title comes from the song “Breathing” by Kate Bush. 
> 
> Went with the prompt, "Keith is affected by a poison targeting Galra on a planet that is still holding a grudge."

Finding out more about being a Galra, and what that entailed, looked to be a lifelong journey. Keith supposed he could attribute his natural physical strength to his mother’s side, not to mention the ravenous appetite with the metabolism to match, or the internal rage and sense of honor-bound he felt burning within. 

Other matters surprised him completely. 

He and Shiro have been trying for a baby for a while, and the happy news came a few weeks before this particular mission. What Keith hadn’t anticipated, and what Krolia hadn’t informed her son, was what Galra, even quarter-Galra unborns, were capable of.

*

“Remember, no blades and no mention of being part of the Blade of Marmora,” Allura instructed.

“Got it,” Keith said. “They might still recognize me just for being the Red Paladin.” 

Allura smiled. “Hopefully not. Many don’t know you are a Blade. Your legacy as a Paladin of Voltron is all we need. If your other identity is brought up, well…it will have to be, eventually. But one at a time. I fear the Varisians are slow to trust.” 

Keith nodded. “I’ll do my best to keep a low profile.”

Placing on his paladin gear, Keith checked himself in the mirror. At fourteen weeks pregnant, he was showing just a little bit; the black mesh of the uniform would keep him hidden for the most part. Not that he thought a baby bump would affect their chances of a diplomatic negotiations. Perhaps it may even sway the Empress, or make her insulted. Hard to tell. Best not to open that can of worms. 

Really, they had no idea what lay in store for them on that planet, as no one had entered it for many decades, other than that they needed their alliance.

*

The planet Varinus was known to be slow in letting go of grudges, and especially against the Galra, though it was not favorable towards Alteans either. Though they were permitted to use the Voltron Lions, the paladins were to enter as humans. This would be a purely Earth-based mission.

Seemed easy enough. Allura and Coran were on standby to offer advice from the sidelines. Varinus would talk to Altea, if gently coaxed. For this reason, Allura had to momentarily step away as the Blue Lion’s paladin. Thankfully, the Lions never truly forgot the bond with their former paladins, especially if there was affection, or at least friendship, between the current paladin and the old. For that reason, Lance easily went back back in Blue, Keith back in Red, and Shiro back in Black for the mission.

“Lion musical chairs!” Lance laughed. “Don’t fart in Red, Keith!” 

“Thanks for the idea, Lance,” Keith said and grinned as Lance groaned loudly in the radio. 

Keith felt some sort of sympathy for the people in this planet, as he fully understood the feeling of having been hurt and slow to trust again. Once bitten, twice shy. And if anyone could sway them to become allies, it was Shiro. 

The Voltron Lions landed atop a long landing ground, and the paladins dismounted. Only one member of the court was present to greet them. Welcomed by the councilor, they were taken up a ridiculously long flight of stairs to the castle at the top, then together they entered the grand hall for the empress. Told to wait in the antechamber before they were to be seen, Keith removed his helmet and hooked it on the side of his uniform. 

After a couple minutes later his head began to feel woozy. 

“Everything okay?” Shiro asked. He strolled over to Keith and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, studying him with concern. 

“I…I just need to get some fresh air,” Keith said, frowning. Weird. He never felt like this before. He didn’t want to worry Shiro so he put on an act of bravado and strolled with his head held high, willing himself not to wobble. 

Once outside, he crashed against the wall of the castle. 

“Wh-what’s going on?” he moaned. “What’s happening to me?”

Why did he feel so sick, and during such an important mission! 

His hand slid down to his belly as something began to slowly dawn on him. Instinctively, like a lightbulb going off within, a wisdom gained, he felt the other’s presence inside him. 

A child. His child. His and Shiro’s. 

_I…I feel you_ , Keith thought, eyebrows knitted in confusion. Of course he felt his child before. Waking up with a little fluttering inside his womb, he was familiar with that. But this was different, this was…

Something was wrong. No, the unborn was fine. Somehow, he knew that—no, this wasn’t the reason for him suddenly feeling ill. The fetus inside was, somehow—just what the hell were freaking Galra?!—sending vibes through him, informing him...a little cry for help. 

_Keep the poison out._

Keith chuckled nervously. Poison? He was poisoned? How? 

But first matter: how to keep it away from his baby? Closing his eyes, he allowed his Galra blood to guide him, sensing his way through the process. Feeling a profound control on his body in ways no human could, he turned all focus on one singular place and willed any of the poison away from his womb and from harming his child. 

Now that was done. Now to keep doing that. And—Keith steadied himself against the wall, feeling sicker by the moment—to figure out what was happening to him. 

A few Varisians pass by, and Keith weakly raised his hand, hoping to capture their attention. 

“Hey,” Keith said weakly. He trod over towards them as his vision blurred. “I need to see a doc—”

“ _Ghratta!_ ” one of them hissed as if they had just seen a rodent, grabbing their partner by the shoulders, the two hurried away from Keith. 

“Wha, wait—” 

Keith made to go after them, but with his head spinning, he hadn’t realized how close he was to the edge of the stairs. His foot slipped and down he went the long flight of marble stairs.

*

Shiro frowned as he peered towards the direction from where Keith had gone.

“Keith’s been gone a while,” he said. “We should go check up on him.” 

“I understand your concern for Keith,” Allura said in the telecommunicator screen, “but this meeting is extremely important. We need the cooperation of the Varisians.” 

“Do you want any of us to go look for him?” Pidge asked. 

“Yeah, the place is huge,” Lance said. “Maybe he got lost.” 

“He could have collapsed,” Hunk said. “If he needs someone to pick him up, I can do it.” 

“The Empress of Varinus will see you now,” announced the councilor, breaking the conversation. 

Shiro swore under his breath. In the telecommunicator screen, both Allura and Coran pleaded with him with their eyes. It wasn’t that they didn’t care for Keith; Shiro knew how much they did care. It was that they trusted Keith to take care of himself. But they hadn’t seen how bad he looked before he had left the antechamber. 

And they didn’t have the bad feeling that swam in Shiro’s belly at that moment. 

Praying he wouldn’t regret those words, Shiro turned to the others. “No. The more of the team is together, the better. Come on, we can’t keep The Empress waiting.”

*

At the bottom of the flight of stairs, Keith struggled for breath. Each inhale was more taxing than the one before, and worse still was working hard in keeping the poison away from his womb. He curled about himself as if by some instinct, curling around this peach-sized helpless creature within him to protect at all costs while taking in more and more of the invisible poison all to himself, forming a protective shell that would surely be chipped away as more of the hostile Varisians grew aware of his presence.

And indeed, he could feel them, the passersby staring with dagger-like eyes, the hissing of, “ _Ghratta!_ ” in disgust and horror, circling around them, either to evade, or like sharks, ready to tear him apart. 

He wouldn’t let them get to his unborn. Not to his and Shiro’s child. No matter what. 

And there was the other more pressing matter of what exactly had poisoned him. He hadn’t consumed anything out of the ordinary. Unless someone on the Atlas culinary crew had a personal grudge against him, it couldn’t have been the food. He hadn’t even touched the doorknobs of the royal castle. Everything seemed perfectly fine. There wasn’t even a little ache in the belly as a warning of the oncoming storm. He had felt perfectly healthy that morning up until he had removed his helmet inside the castle and—

Oh.

His eyes widening with realization, Keith searched for his helmet, but it must have fallen from its place at his hip during the fall. Finding it a few feet away, he stretched out his hand, searching. 

Air. He needed proper air. Once he placed the helmet on he can derive clean air from his suit, but the helmet lay just out of reach, and his body, paralyzed with the poison working its way through his veins, was fast losing strength that he could not make the single push to grab it.

 _No…Shiro! Help! Help!_

But Shiro, he knew, wouldn’t come. He and the others were at a very vital meeting.

*

Keith still hadn’t come, and every atom of him wanted nothing more than to go and check on him, but Shiro was forced to remain before Empress Sanii, as he was the leader of Voltron, and go through with the diplomatic visitation. They were so close to achieving everything. The empress was coaxed into speaking with Altea, to Princess Allura’s relief. But when the matter turned to Daibazaal, the empress laughed hollowly.

“I’m afraid it’ll be some time before we can ever safely speak with them,” Empress Sanii said. “No _Ghratta_ dared to enter our planet for hundreds of deca-pheobs, and it may take us some time to clean the air for any friendly encounter.” 

Shiro furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?” 

“When we were occupied by the Empire, we fought back in any way we knew how. A great number of my people, long, long time ago, had captured a Galra soldier, and we studied him, and from there we learned that Galra were highly sensitive to a sort of gas, even if exposed to a single molecule. It would not affect any of our people, nor virtually any other race that visits us; seemingly only Galra are sensitive to it. And so, if we infused our air with it, the planet would become poisonous to anyone who inhaled it, even one breath, if they were of Galra blood.”

Shiro’s entire body went cold instantly. No longer hearing her, he turned around, and in that brief moment before he made a dash for it, he saw the dawning realization on Hunk and Pidge’s face and Lance’s mouth fall wide open—he sprinted down the halls, his heart racing, remembering how Keith had looked—oh, lord, how much time had passed? How much—

He called out Keith’s name repeated as he ran out of the castle. Not finding him anywhere around the landing, he ran down the long flight of stairs, looking about him frantically. He called out Keith’s name again, and that’s when he saw him: lying in a curled heap at the bottom of the stairs was Keith, unconscious and unresponsive. Cradling Keith in his arms, Shiro’s eyes widened at the sight of the purple-black lips and tiny purple and black veins running through his cheeks and temples. His skin greyed under the bright sun. 

“No! No, Keith, open your eyes,” Shiro begged as he lifted him in his arms. “Keith, I’m here! Stay with me, Keith! _KEITH!_ ”

*

A soft humming roused Keith awake. Finding himself no longer at the bottom of the castle’s mountain, he glanced to the left and saw Shiro, dozing off in the chair next to him. His unborn, as Keith can tell, seemed…fine, but he wasn’t entirely certain. He had held on and kept the poison out, but what happened after he passed out?

A machine was attached to him, helping him breathe. He allowed the machine to deliver the clean, good air into his lungs, filling him up. Finally, something good he can give his growing child. 

Reaching for Shiro’s hand, he slipped back into sleep. 

When Keith opened his eyes again, Shiro was gently fusing around his head. The breathing machine had been removed and Keith was able to breathe freely on his own. 

“Shiro,” Keith muttered weakly. “Our child—”

“Our child is unharmed,” Shiro said. “Allura examined you the moment we arrived. Absolutely none of the poison had entered the womb. It’s a miracle.” 

“Yeah…Galra can do that,” Keith said. “We’re weirdly built.” 

Shiro’s face lit up beautifully with his smile. “That’s amazing and beautiful!” 

“I hope Allura isn’t mad.”

Shiro gave a small chuckle. “Actually…no. You’ll be surprised how well the meeting went.” At Keith’s quizzical look, Shiro went on. “Turns out, you’re Empress Sanii’s favorite paladin. She had no idea you were part-Galra! Having already been familiar with your deeds as a paladin and then hearing of what happened to you had softened her considerably. They’re going through preparations right this moment to better suit Varinus for Galra diplomat visitors. Allura’s so grateful for how the meeting had gone.” 

“Well, that’s a relief!” Keith said as Shiro kissed his hand.

*

Shiro spent as much time with him as he possibly could throughout his recovery. Keith had demonstrated true stubbornness out in Varinus, he was told, as the poisonous gas was likely to lead to asphyxia or upper airway inflammation within minutes of any Galra unlucky enough to inhale it, hence why none dared to enter it for years, not even with a helmet lest one tiny accident, a puncture or air supply failure in their suits, could prove fatal.

“Could just be my human side being able to take it,” Keith suggested. 

Still, to manage to survive that long outside while also will the toxins away from harming his unborn was a true miracle. Yet, the poison still left its marks on Keith. He was now bed-bound for who knew how long, as Keith had developed some asthma-like symptoms and airway obstruction. Corticosteroids were suggested, as it wouldn’t affect the baby, although he was warned premature rupture of amniotic membranes and low birthweight was a slight possibility. 

Fun. 

“I think…I can just manage with bedrest,” Keith said, nervous about putting anything in his body for the time being. “Or…suppose I can will them away from the womb like I did with the poison.” 

Whenever Shiro was away for Atlas duties, one of the other paladins stayed to keep Keith company. Allura regularly checked on him, at times driving him up the wall with worry as she examined him with a concerned expression until he begged her to talk (and, thankfully, it was never any bad news). Pidge entertained him with holographic games, as he preferred more puzzles and other brain games to things like Killbot Phantasm. 

Hunk and he pored through books and magazines together and enjoyed some quiet time together (or mutually gawked at the intergalactic version of National Geographics; space was far weirder than anyone ever anticipated). 

“Hey, there’s a way to view the ‘impressive and intricate mating ritual of the Gokvais Ornithons’ on the screen,” Hunk said, giggling. 

Keith cocked one eyebrow. “You want us to watch alien exotic birds go at it?” 

And they did. And laughed…until Keith’s lungs couldn’t take it, which didn’t take long these days, and that was when Shiro swept in with Keith’s rescue inhaler in hand. 

“Nice,” Hunk whistled, who had just gotten out of his seat. “It’s like his Keith senses began tingling!” 

Shiro chuckled as the two glanced at one another, both recalling all the times they’ve saved one another. 

“I suppose we’re wired to sense when the other’s in danger,” Shiro said. 

Lance, of course, periodically came in to torment Keith with a list of potential baby names, each one worse than the previous. Keith was just beginning to warm up to the suggestion of “Nora” as a girl’s name before realizing Lance wanted him to name the kid after _Twinkle Nora Rock Me!_ , also known as the bane of human existence. 

“Only you would ever watch that, Lance!” 

Lance threw his head back and laughed, hugging himself silly over his little prank, and even after the initial irritation wore off, Keith had to laugh as well, until another coughing fit seized him.

*

Breathe.

He couldn’t. Something thick and heavy filled his lungs, choking him. He struggled to inhale, but the poison worked its way through him, and—shit, his unborn! He couldn’t!—not again!—

Jolting wide awake, Keith gasped loudly before inhaling deep, filling his lungs with clear, clean air. 

A warm hand brushed the hair away from his face. 

“Hey…what’s wrong?” Shiro kissed his brow. The rhythmic beeping near his bed could still be heard. Every now and again, Shiro shared his bed, knowing how much Keith preferred him near. “Do you need your inhaler?” 

“No. I just thought I couldn’t breathe.” 

“Ah.” Shiro kissed him again. “A nightmare, love. Just a nightmare. Just dark thoughts. Let it pass. You’ve been recovering well. The child’s safe. You’re safe.” 

That’s right. Shiro too had been haunted by nightmares. Sinking into Shiro’s arms, Keith let a few tears fall. Hearing his breathing and the slow rise and fall of his chest, Keith gently lulled back into sleep, safe and sound in Shiro’s strong arms.

**Author's Note:**

>  _Twinkle Nora Rock Me!_ is a notoriously bad anime, and I couldn't help adding it in somewhere for a little laugh. XD


End file.
